War of the Dead - Session 4 - 11/5/2012
War of the Dead - Session 4 - 11/5/2012
First off, a big thank you to Mike, our resident gun expert, who brought both a real glock and M-16 last night for all of us to check out. It was nice for the players to see what they're handling.
Stepping out of the box truck that Hell transported them in, the gang found themselves on the outskirts of a small city. Hell reminded the party they were to go into town and create a diversion so he and his men, the Ghost Riders, could get easier access to the mall. When Mike asked about the pistol that Hell had told him he could have, Hell just laughed and said, "Do you really think I'd let you have a gun with ammo in it?" Mike wasn't happy, but headed into town with the rest of the group. Hell did concede to letting them keep the axes they had taken from the ship.
It was mid-morning and sunny. Visability was good. After passing through a few empty blocks, a zombie burst out of a second story window, attempting to attack Jeff. Reacting quickly, almost by instinct, Jeff swung around and took the creature full in the skull, splitting the head, and splashing brain all over. This brief encounter reminded the party not to take a quiet street for granted and continued on even more cautiously. As a result, Mike and Kris took the lead with Adam and Bob in the middle, and Jeff and Joel bringing up the rear. They each watched their respective zones and stayed away from doorways and windows so as not to be taken by surprise. Everyone was on edge as a zombie could appear from anywhere. Bob continued to take some good-natured ribbing as during the two weeks on the lifeboat, he had passed the time with several craft projects. One of which was to take the pile of 360 extra life jackets and tie them together into a protective suit. The getup was clumsily-made, and life jackets were tied and cut to cover his arms, torso and legs. He looked bright orange and very ridiculous, and the life jacket armor slowed him considerably and created a trip hazard. But he doggedly decided to keep it on, despite the crude jokes made by the Ghost Riders. Some members of his group likened him to Ralphie's brother in his snowsuit in "A Christmas Story." Others started calling it the Pillsbury dough boy armor. Nevertheless, it did provide a small level of protection.
Peeking around a corner, Mike spotted a female zombie walking down the road. His experience as an EMT spotted something very odd about her. Her stomach had been ripped open, from the INSIDE! Hoping to avoid an early confrontation, the gang decided to hold for a few minutes, hoping she would wander away. Keeping an eye on her, and their surroundings, seconds ticked by, feeling like hours. Their hearts beating so fast, they thought for sure zombies from three blocks over would be coming toward them. The group opted to play the New Recruit card at this point, hoping for something to help them.
The zombie continued to wander around the street, slowly making her way toward the group. Then Mike saw a young boy, probably 10 years old, limp into the street at the far end. Swearing under his breath, he and Kris dashed around the corner out at the female zombie. The cards were with them and Mike got there first, intending to knock the creature to the ground so Kris would have an easier time with the head shot. Mike succeeded, but his success was short lived as the little boy turned to face him and Mike saw half his face was missing, the child was not a living survivor, but a zombie. Then, it slowly opened its mouth and the child zombie started to moan. A sound so vile that the players still shudder when I do it. Just as the moan began to reach its maximum pitch, a gunshot silenced it. An older gentleman stepped out from another street and said, "Quick, follow me." Kris drew a deuce so was frozen to the spot. The zombie drew a 3 and was going to act first. Fortunately, Kris's brother Bob drew slightly higher in the initiative. He stepped forward. Not skipping a beat, Bob finished off the female zombie and the group followed the old man.
He led them around a few blocks before dragging them into The Handy Hardware Store(I had originally called this Hank's Hardware, but the players kept thinking Henry and Hank were the same guy, they aren't, not that it matters). The old man introduced himself as Henry Stevenson. A life long resident of the area, he and his wife live out near the Marina. After a quick chat, while the players scavenged what they could, they determined that Henry lived in the house near the Marina. Furthermore, the players had already run into Henry, at least his handy work, when approaching the house with dead zombies all over the front yard. Bob took the opportunity to remove his lifevest armor, seeing that speed was more important than protection. The gang managed to find some useful items. The place was picked over pretty good, however. Most of the common items were missing - radios, batteries were all out of stock. They found the following:
2 Long handled screwdrivers
1 Screwdriver
8 Swiss army knives of various styles
2 Crowbars
2 Brooms (Mike snapped off the heads and turned them into spears)
1 Hand saw (Joel grabbed this)
Several #10 pan head screws
2 rolls of duct tape
2 pairs of safety goggles with straps (Bob looked for these, thinking it may be helpful for those with glasses)
2 cans of spray paint
Several bags to carry these items in [RDJ]
All mundane things left behind during the initial rush. The group noticed the hardware store had a security alarm system. Bob did take a look at it and thanks to an insane roll, managed to get the alarm working on the backup batteries. He had no idea how long the alarm would last, but he was confident it would work. The alarm system was armed so that breaking the glass should trigger it.
Gathering up the rest of what they could scavenge, the group planned to follow Henry back to his car, find some additional mode of transportation and then high tail it out of town. There was still some debate about their destination, but that was put on hold as Mike, Kris, and Adam threw large bolts at the glass window from across the street. Adam's throw was pathetic, Kris' hit the window frame, and Mike's found and shattered the glass. (Mike had trained two slots into throwing for his Advancement, and the choice was paying off.) The alarm klaxon began blaring and zombies immediately started wandering over to the store. I rolled a d4 to determine how long the alarm would sound. It came up 1, so, with the gang one block away, the alarm stopped. Sometime around here, one of the players played the Hot Wheels card, which would give them access to a vehicle. I held off providing that for a few moments as I had something planned that would work well with that.
Dodging groups of the dead, the gang found themselves constantly changing direction, retracing their steps, and generally making little progress toward Henry's car. During this time, they saw an Apache helicopter strafe through the area, heading east to west. Bob wanted to shoot a flare off to let them know there were friendlies on the ground. Mike was adamant that this would put the group in more danger, and Bob relented. Doubling back and taking another route, they heard a woman screaming. Racing to her aid, they found a woman swinging a shotgun as a club while trying to defend herself against two zombies. A third lay on the ground, face fill of shotgun blast. Moving in, they could see she had already been bitten. A moment later, she was on the ground and the gang made quick work of the 2 zombies that had jumped on top of her and were treating her like a breakast buffet. Kris made sure that she would not come back, as one of the dead, either. Mike grabbed the empty shotgun, hoping to find more ammo in the house.
Heading inside, they saw a CB radio in the kitchen and could hear the sounds of a fire fight coming through it. Performing a quick search of the house, the survivors were finally able to re-arm themselves. Three glocks, 3 shotgun shells, and three rifles were found. Each glock had a full cartridge(15 rounds), and a spare, empty one. Each rifle had 10 rounds. Further exploration of the house found an early 80's Camaro in the garage, 3 crates of food, and 2, 5 gallon gas cans. Listening further to the radio, someone on the far end was calling for Maria, saying they needed backup as the bikers were getting the upper hand. The group quickly figured out that whoever lived here was engaged in a shoot out with the Ghost Riders over access to the mall. The group decided they had three options: They could join the firefight and assist the gang members against the Ghost Riders. They could head directly to the Marina and try to save their loved ones who were guarded by nine Ghost Riders plus Spiderbait. Or they could go scout out the six ghost riders who were guarding the motorcyles and the truck they came in on. The group agreed there was no way Hell would keep his end of the bargain. There was some quick discussion about potentially backing up the residents of the house against the Ghost Riders, but in the end, the call to rescue their loved ones proved too compelling.
Obviously, the Camaro was too small to fit the entire group. A plan was devised where Joel would drive the Camaro, with Henry in the passenger seat and Mike hanging out the top. Joel had previously owned a Camaro before the outbreak of infected, and the group agreed he would be the most experienced driver. The three would race to Henry's car and then come back for the rest. The food was placed in the backseat and the gas jugs in the trunk. The trunk had to be tied down to keep it closed, but would be fine for a short trip. Turning the key, Highway to Hell came blaring out of the CD player, and the engine purred like a cat, through a bullhorn. Flying out of the garage, Joel hoped they'd be able to make it the 5 or so blocks to Henry's car with ease. Unfortunately, the sound of the engine pulled zombies from all the surrounding blocks and the car was quickly surrounded. Joel put the pedal to the metal, hoping to ram their way out of the situation, unfortunately, the car was not up to the task and after running over several bodies, bottomed out so the wheels were spinning because they couldn't reach the ground with the middle of the car teetering on several bodies. Realizing they had to act quickly, Joel, Henry, and Mike jumped out of the car and made a run for Henry's station wagon. In the future, the group vowed to make it very clear when driving vehicles that they were not simply driving through herds of infected, but attempting to drive around them if possible.
Hopping in the car, Henry took them on a longer route, heading back to the house. Halfway there, Mike spotted a gorgeous Hummer, H3, on the side of the road. Looking around, they had about 30 seconds before any zombies would be on them, so Mike hopped out. The drivers door was locked, but he could see the keys inside. Smashing the window, he jumped in. At the same time, Joel walked to the passenger side and opened the passenger door, which was unlocked. Oops! Mike followed Henry back toward the house. For the record, I gave them the camaro to see how they would handle a vehicle that couldn't carry them all. The H3 was provided as a result of the Hot Wheels card.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Bob, Kris, Jeff, and Adam searched the house a bit more and Jeff and Kris determined that the floor plan seemed to be hiding a room. They bashed through a wall with their axes and found a secret stash. One more gas container, another food crate, and 2 kevlar vests! Bob and Kris were given the vests as they fit them the best. Sadly there was no interest by the rest of the group in Bob's Lifejacket, Pillsbury Dough Boy armor. Further info came across the CB, constantly crying out for reinforcements. Bob was sorely tempted to respond, but in the end, did not. The group realized that by taking these weapons and supplies, they will likely have ruined any chance of allying with the other gang. Their resolve to free their loved ones and flee strengthened.
Moments later, Mike and Henry pulled up in their vehicles. Jeff and Kris hopped in with Mike while the rest went with Henry. Mike wanted the food and gas they had abandoned in the Camaro and Jeff and Kris were ready to assist. The street only had a dozen or so zombies in it and only a few were by the Camaro. Slowly Mike advanced the Hummer, hoping to not attract too much attention. He misjudged the distance between the Hummer and Camaro, so when Jeff opened the door, there was a gap between the door and camaro large enough for a zombie to get through. Mike was immediately attacked through the broken window. Fortunately, he was saved when a cat distracted the creature attacking him(Fellow Life Form Card). Jeff hopped out, grabbed a crate of food and tossed it to Kris. The first turn was over. As the zombies closed in, Henry pulled up at the far end of the street and started beeping his horn, drawing off many of the zombies. Jeff then swung his axe, cutting the string that held the trunk closed, grabbed the two gas cans, while Kris grabbed another crate of food. Seeing he was running out of time, Mike stepped on it and the group escaped, following Henry out of town.
Regrouping just outside of town, they decided to scout the bikers who Hell had left behind to guard the bikes. The group suspected that there were originaly six bikers posted to guard the bikes and the truck. Crawling through high grass, they were able to spy that the box truck was gone, as were 2 of the bikers. That left 4 bikers to deal with. The group decided that with 4 rifles, their best chance was to setup fairly far out, take their aim, and open fire. Henry, Mike, Adam, and Bob took aim. They had the drop, but at their range, that bonus was negated by distance. Squeezing off their shots, Mike and Bob dropped 2 of the bikers. The other 2 were able to take quick cover behind their bikes. The group didn't take into account that the bikers also had rifles - they had assumed the bikers only had pistols and attempted to maximize their range. They learned to take this into account for future fights. The following round, the bikers acted early and decided to get on their bikes and report back to Hell. Mike opened fire, and with a double explosion dropped the third biker. The players had trouble hitting this time, as in the second round they no longer had the +4 from the drop, nor did they have the +2 from aiming. They were firing with a -4 due to the long range, and they knew if they missed this, the bikers would be out of range by round three and on their way for reinforcements. To compensate for this, the players each spent a benny to use the Heroic Inspiration function. They each took the Marksman edge for one round, which gave them a +2 to hit with shooting a target. This reduced their penalty from -4 to -2. Bob started with three bennies. He spent one for the edge. He missed the first time. He spent another to re-roll his shooting attempt. He missed again. Desparate, he used his last benny to roll one final time. He hit - just barely with no raise. When he rolled damage, he rolled poorly and the damage was less than the biker's toughness. Three bennies were wasted with nothing to gain. Adam ended up with the last shot, and managed a hit. In typical Adam fashion, his damage roll was a 4 which was also less than the biker's toughness. Knowing this was the group's only chance to kill this biker, he played the Inventory Reduction card, resulting in a round that destroyed the rifle he was using, but inflicted maximum damage on the biker, killing him.
Ultimately, the gang picked up another 4 glocks, one from each biker, and 4 M-16s. Each weapon only had one full clip as the rest of the ammo had gone to backup Hell. A couple long knives, and leather jackets for Mike and Adam filled out the rest of the haul. Mike dumped some gas into the Hummer and Henry's wagon, cut the gas lines of the bikes, cut the spark plug wires, slashed the tires and refilled the gas containers from the tanks on the bikes.
